BEING arrested was "the best day of my life", a man convicted of downloading indecent images of children.
Andrew Leigh, 23, returned to his family's Great Baddow home after a two-night hotel stay following his conviction on Friday last week.
Leigh was spared jail with a two-year suspended sentence after admitting to downloading indecent images of children.
His conviction followed a police raid on his Goshawk Drive home where 1,223 extreme pornographic images and films were found on a computer and seized.
Speaking to the Chronicle this week, Leigh urged other sex offenders to "fess up".
He said: "I now just want to move on and let my family move on so we can get on with our lives.
"I don't want any more hassle for them – they have been 100 per cent supportive but it's nothing to do with them, they have done nothing wrong."
Obviously shaken and emotional, but still clear in his words, Leigh added: "I've had to go to a hotel for two nights to get away from it all and to make sure my family were safe and not near me.
"I am doing everything I can, and getting help where I need it, to make sure I won't do it again.
"I won't begin to try and explain what I did but seeing those horrible things on the screen, it's awful, but it's like a drug – and it is this awful curiosity.
"I should have got help as soon as I could – and you should fess up as soon as you see these images.
"The day I was arrested was the best day of my life."
Essex Police, who launched a Paedophile Online Investigation Team in 2008, work with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), other forces and its own hi-tech crime unit to identify offenders.
Detective sergeant John Woodley said: "With this investment, we can continue to provide a quality response to the increasing amount of intelligence we receive and also take a more proactive stance in our investigations.
"The unit will make it far more difficult for those that use the internet to share or download pornographic images of children and will allow us to bring them to face justice."
While it is a criminal offence, helpline services to counsel people with an online addiction have been set-up.
Britain's first 24-hour counselling service for online pornography addiction was launched in 2011.
One of the site's experts from helpaddictions.org – Dr Chris Forester – says if not dealt with head-on, it can seriously affect people's lives for years to come.
The doctor, who blames the internet for the rapid spread in pornography, says that tame internet searches usually lead to looking at more extreme sexual photographs or videos.
"HE WAS CAUGHT IN A FANTASY WORLD"JUDGE Anthony Goldstaub QC told Chelmsford Crown Court he was tempted to send Andrew Leigh to jail.
Sentencing on Friday, the judge told Leigh: "You have admitted some disgusting offences of child pornography of the worst kind and I'm tempted to send you immediately to prison."
The judge had been told that as well as child porn, the pornography found at Leigh's home included material showing sex acts with animals.
However, instead of an immediate jail term, the judge imposed a two-year sentence but suspended it for two years.
The court was told that when police raided Leigh's home in Goshawk Drive, Great Baddow, they seized 1,223 extreme pornographic films and images.
Leigh pleaded guilty to eight offences of possessing "extreme" images, two of distributing images and four of downloading indecent images of children.
As he passed sentence Judge Goldstaub said : "There was no physical contact, you became hooked on this type of pornography in a way that you couldn't control or manage."
In addition to the suspended sentence he also fined Leigh £485 with a £15 victim surcharge, ordered him to pay £500 costs and attend the internet sex offenders' programme.
He made an indefinite sex offenders' prevention order and placed Leigh on the sex offenders' register for ten years.
Leigh's counsel, Anne Pereira, told the court : "He co-operated with the police saying 'it's me' and handed over all the equipment involved. He was relieved, having been frightened and concerned about what to do. He was caught in a fantasy world."
She added that since his arrest messages had appeared on Facebook and the family felt threatened and had moved out of their home for a time.
